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By Elliot Spagat
ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:30 p.m., 17 April 2003
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Associated
Press
A photo of U.S.
Marine First Sgt. Edward Smith is displayed at the altar as a
Marine color guard removes the casket of Smith following funeral
services at Camp Pendleton. Smith died on April 5 in Doha,
Qatar, from wounds suffered a daily earlier while battling enemy
forces in central Iraq. He was the highest-ranking enlisted
Marine to die in the war in Iraq.
CAMP PENDLETON – Marines, Anaheim
police officers and the family of 1st Sgt. Edward C. Smith gathered
under a gray sky Thursday to remember the man whose physical stamina and
mental toughness inspired thousands of troops who trained under his
command.
About 300 people packed the Marine
Memorial Chapel at Camp Pendleton, where police officers and Marines
eulogized the 38-year-old father of three who had planned to retire from
the military in January.
Smith, a Gulf War veteran and reserve
officer with the Anaheim Police Department, had hoped to join the police
force full-time upon his return from duty in Iraq. He had told his
friends he planned to ride into Baghdad wearing his black SWAT team cap
stitched with a silver eagle.
Smith, who lived in Vista, died on
April 5 2003 in Doha, Qatar, from wounds suffered a day earlier while
battling enemy forces in central Iraq, according to the Defense
Department. He was the highest-ranking enlisted Marine to die in the war
in Iraq.
Many of those who spoke Thursday said
they are struggling to understand how Smith, who could have been far
from enemy fire because of his rank, would be killed.
"I don't know the accounts of how
he was killed, but I guarantee you it was saving his Marines, exposing
himself to fire to set an example," said Sgt. Major Dan Hakala, who
was friends with Smith for 17 years.
Hakala and others praised Smith as a
natural leader whose endurance and passion inspired them to keep moving
even when they were at the point of collapse.
Smith, who began his military career
as a communications specialist, was skilled in Morse code. Hakala said
he was impressed Smith could tap out messages while singing tunes and
chewing gum.
One night when Smith's team was on
patrol, 1st Sgt. Mark Clark recalled, the team's radio broke on a
parachute drop but Smith used pieces of a ball point pen to tap Morse
code onto parts of the radio in order to keep communications going.
Hakala recalled that when the two were
training in the 1990s, he would invite Smith to unwind after a long day
by having a beer. But Smith would decline, and head off instead to four
hours of night classes he was taking to become a police officer.
George Vanderhoof, who met Smith in
the police academy, said he often asked himself: "Where does this
guy get all this energy from?"
Smith was hired by Anaheim police as a
part-time reservist in 1999 after graduating at the top of his class
from Palomar Police Academy. He was recognized as the department's
Reserve Rookie of the Year in 2000 and in 2001 was the Orange County
Reserve Police Officer of the Year. He usually worked weekends and was
part of the Special Tactics Detail that was on guard as the Anaheim
Angels played in the World Series.
Anaheim Police Sgt. Tim Miller, who
was Smith's supervisor on the SWAT team, called him "a gentle giant
and a good friend" who inspired fellow officers.
He remembered meeting Smith for the
first time and being "impressed with this poster boy for the Marine
Corps," Miller said.
He noted that when new officers report
for their first day of work, many show up with a street map, but not
Smith. "Like an experienced Marine, he came to work with not one,
but two compasses."
Smith, a Chicago native, had decided
to retire in January but the military delayed all retirements for a year
and he was shipped overseas with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment,
1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton. He wasn't eager to go to
war in Iraq, but, according to his wife, Sandy, he wanted to test
himself after 20 years in the Marine Corps without seeing combat.
"He said he was sorry he was
leaving," his wife told reporters earlier this month.
On Thursday, she wiped away tears as
she sat in the front row of the Marine base chapel with the couple's
three children – Nathan, 12, Ryan, 9, and Shelby, 8 – and Smith's
parents, Ronald and Barbara.
Marines in uniform carried Smith's
flag-draped casket to the front of the chapel, where a wreath of red
roses decorated the altar. A large photo of Smith, wearing his police
uniform and a serious expression, was displayed at the side.
At the
close of the service, a Marine bugler played "Taps."
Earlier Thursday, about 1,000 people
attended a memorial service in Anaheim.
Smith's remains were to be buried at
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
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